


Another target (third person POV)

by miraculousandstrangerthingsworld



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng Fluff, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood and Injury, F/F, F/M, Fluff, How Do I Tag, Hugs, Hurt Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, I love to torture my readers, I'm Sorry, LMAO, M/M, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Identity Reveal, Poor Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Responsibility
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:02:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24792793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miraculousandstrangerthingsworld/pseuds/miraculousandstrangerthingsworld
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marc Anciel/Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Sabine Cheng/Tom Dupain
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

When Marinette saw Adrien approaching Kagami, she had a tornado of feelings, good ones and bad ones. She was happy, happy that one of her best friends found love and sad that she wasn't his love.

_"Maybe if I confessed earlier, he would have been my boyfriend. What am I even thinking? I would never be able to confess, neither to be his girlfriend. I am not good enough for this. He's been in love with Kagami from the first time they met. They deserve each other, they're both smart, have strict parents and are nice people. If I have ever had a chance with Adrien, it is now ruined forever, because he loves Kagami, a dominant, yet kind girl."_

With all these messed feelings, the ravenette went to the guy who was always near her when she needed someone by her side, Luka. He is a very good boy, but she didn't like him that way. The girl felt like she was using him to get rid of her feelings for Adrien and she really thought this was not a good option, feeling bad for the poor guy. As she approached Luka, he smiled and the girl asked him if she could listen to the song he's been writing for her. As she was listening to it, the ravenette started blushing and wondering if she really didn't like him.

_"Maybe it was time for a change, I would have never had any chances with Adrien, the top model from Paris."_

Adrien went to Kagami after go left Marinette to go at Luka. The short-haired ravenette looked beautiful and he felt lucky to have her as his future girlfriend, although somehow the blonde's attention went to Marinette who sat next to the chill guy. At that moment he was boiling of anger. The boy didn't know why, maybe it just had something to do with his family life. 

_"I am extremely proud of her, that she found love. Probably it just a "teenage phase" about which my mom told me about, when our emotions change for no reason"_ he thought

The thought of his mom made the blonde sad. He didn't want his friends to see that so he put on the fakest smile ever. The time spent with those amazing people made the boy happy again. And Marinette was too and that's something that mattered a lot to him. Who knows what happened to her heart, she just seemed depressed in the last period of time. The blonde actually started to become worried about her mental health.

 _"Probably I was just overreacting about that. I just hope she's well."_ he thought.


	2. Chapter 2

**That night**

The heroine was sitting in her bed, thinking about how she was going to get rid of her long-time crush because he loved someone else. And he had the right to date Kagami, he was a free person and nobody should criticize him for being in love with a smart, interesting and talented girl. The bakers’ daughter felt like a loser, she knew that she never had a chance with the amazing model, but still continued to hope. She had a whole future ahead and a man who truly deserved her, she could just move on. It wasn’t going to be very hard after all.

“Are you ok Marinette?” Tikki asked her with concern. The ravenette just got up from her bed and started looking in the mirror. At that moment her confidence was nowhere to be found. She envied Kagami in many ways because the fencer was perfect. Or at least it seemed like this.

The girl got to her bed and immediately fell asleep.

**Next day**

Marinette’s alarm started to ring, making the ravenette want to destroy her phone. She usually wakes up pretty late, but this time, she got up from the bed and did her usual routine: washed her tenth, took a shower, changed into her usual clothes, and went downstairs to have breakfast.

“What happened Marinette, you woke up early today, how did this happen? Is everything ok?” her parents asked her with worry on their faces.

“No, everything is ok, I just wanted to make it earlier today.”

Then she went to her room to take her backpack and purse, in which was Tikki already hiding, with her.

Marinette took everything she needed with her and rushed at school, thinking she’ll be late again. When the ravenette arrived, she saw two people kissing in front of the school. She got terrified when she saw that those people Adrien and Kagami. Her world felt like it was falling apart. She was heartbroken and started running away to the toilets. There the bluebell-eyed girl let it all out. Tears were falling down her cheeks and no one knew except for Tikki, who got out of the purse. The sweet creature looked down thinking about a way to change the subject for her.

“So, are you going to patrol today?” the kwami asked. She knew Adrien was Cat Noir, but her owner didn’t and it was a great advantage. The ravenette could trust her partner with her heart and he never betrayed her.

They both heard the voice of a boy, Adrien Agreste, the same guy who unconsciously broke the girl’s heart, the guy who was dating her friend.

“MARIETTE! MARINETTE? ARE YOU THERE?” the blonde asked worriedly. He cared about the girl so much and didn’t want her to be heartbroken.

“Adrien? Yeah, I’m here. You can go to your girlfriend now. I’ll be ok.” Marinette said with a sad voice. The blonde could hear she was crying from her sobs.

“You are NOT ok! I want you to be happy Marinette, I care about you. You are one of my best friends. And I need you to tell me what happened. Please.”

She got out of the girls’ bathroom and met Adrien here. The ravenette had red, puffy eyes from crying. He hugged her tight then let go immediately.

“Marinette, please be honest with me. What happened? Maybe I can help you.”

“You………. You can’t. No one can but myself.” The girl told him with tears running from her beautiful bluebell eyes. She ran from him and went to class, where there was already Kagami.

“Kagami! What are you doing here?”

“Well, my mom allows me to go here to school because of Adrien. He somehow managed to convince her.” The short-haired girl told Marinette. “And I don’t know if he told you, but we made it official yesterday. We are dating, just to let you know.” She knew the bluebell-eyed liked him, but she was so selfish and rubbed with that in the poor girl’s face like the boy was a prize.

“I know. I saw you two kissing in front of the school.” It was hard for her to prevent her tears from falling. Marinette closed her eyes and went to her long-time seat.

**Time skip (end of class)**

“Are you free today Marinette?” a sweet voice asked the girl who was walking down the stairs. It was Luka, the guy who never left her side no matter what. She felt incredibly lucky and thought that she didn’t deserve him.

“Yes, why are you asking?” the ravenette replied.

“Will you go on a date with me? Plus, I have something to tell you.” She nodded and they both walked together. The boy with blue streaks in his hair took her hand and told her “I’ll always be here for you Marinette.”

**At the park**

The two teenagers were sitting on a bench and the blue-eyed boy broke the silence.

“I wanted to ask you this a long time ago,” Luka told the beautiful girl who was a complete blushing mess. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng, will you be my girlfriend?” 

The ravenette had no words. Literally. She was shocked, but she knew that this day would come.

The girl could not explain what she felt at the time. It was a good thing that the boy confessed, but her heart belonged to someone else, someone who never saw her real side.  _ How can Adrien love me if he doesn’t know who I truly am? _ she thought. Her mind wasn’t big enough to know what she was supposed to do, but the boy caught her by surprise and kissed her On the lips. She melted into the passionate kiss but broke it after a few seconds.

“Luka, what were you thinking when you did that?” She ran out in tears to her house, leaving him with his mouth wide open. But the truth was, it was not only them in the park, but there was also someone else who was spying on them, and that person was Kagami, whose happiness couldn’t get any bigger. It was officially the best day of her life: Adrien asked her to be his girlfriend and the person who had a crush on him was unavailable anymore. The scene when they were kissing was recorded on the short-haired girl’s phone. Everything went by her plan, now Marinette couldn’t steal Adrien from her, or she only thought that…..


	3. Chapter 3

**At Marinette’s house**

The girl was very shocked at what happened. She hoped that Adrien would realize he had feelings for her. .  _ Maybe it was just friendly sympathy _ the ravenette thought.

“Maybe it was my imagination going too far. He could’ve never loved me, but Luka truly loves me, and I just ran away after he kissed me. I’m such a coward, Tikki.”

“No, Marinette, you are not a coward or a bad person, it was just shocking for you. You’ll talk to him tomorrow or later about what happened today. But I think you should give him a chance, he deserves it. And Adrien is very stupid for not realizing how great you are.“The kwami said and kissed her owner’s cheek. “Everything is going to be ok, I promise and if it’s not, I’ll always be here for you.”

Marinette was about to do her homework when she heard some loud screams. It was an Akuma attack. She got up from her desk and said the magic words:

“Tikki, spots on.“

In her place, there was the amazing superhero, Ladybug, who was loved by almost everyone, except for three people, Lila Rossi, Hawkmoth and Mayura. The heroine jumped off her balcony, what she didn’t know was that she was being recorded while doing so. 

**At Adrien’s house**

The blonde was in his bed, thinking about the love of his life (who was not Kagami). Five minutes later he got a message from his girlfriend. It was a video of Luka and Marinette kissing, or more accurately, Luka kissing Marinette. The boy was in shock, somehow he got mad and threw his phone on the other side of his room.

“So, she’s just a friend, right, Adrien?” his kwami teased him, It was painful seeing the ravenette with someone else and it always made him jealous. He truly loved her, but he didn’t know that himself yet. 

“Yes, she is, I was mad at Kagami for not respecting their privacy, that’s all. I’ll talk to her about that tomorrow at school.”

As the boy spoke, he heard the sound of an explosion. Bored and annoyed, he said with no emotion:

“Plagg, claws out.” And he transformed into the cool hero of Paris, Cat Noir.

**At the park, where the Akuma attack was happening**

When the heroine arrived, there was a girl with a big scarf, the akumatized victim. 

“Oh, Ladybug, welcome to the scene, I am Scarf Explosion. Now we need your loyal partner, Cat Noir.”

“Hi Ladybug, hi destroyer girl, I can see your powers are so c law-ful that we will defeat purr-etty easily. Am I right, LB?”

“Aren’t you calling me your Lady anymore or what?” asked the heroine. It kinda hurt that he stopped using the cute nickname she used to hate. But you know the saying,  _ ‘you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone’. _

“You’re wrong, little kitten! My powers aren’t lame! Wanna see?” 

After saying that, the villain took off her scarf and threw it at the ravenette who was a little distracted by the fact that her partner stopped loving her. It felt like hell for the girl who never experienced loss before. She did have a lot of pressure on her, but she had never lost anything. Well, before Kagami appeared and ruined her future relationship with the blonde, which would’ve slowly been growing, at least in her imagination. 

Then the explosion hit her.She was thrown backward, landing on the ground. She could feel more forming under what remained of her suit, exploding on the ground with a thud. Ladybug opened her eyes and looked down at her body. Bruises were already forming on the skin the explosion had exposed .The heroine opened her eyes with a tremendous effort and said:

“Cat Noir, you are the best partner ever. I…” She started coughing blood and closed her eyes. 

With the unconscious heroine in his arms, the blonde went to the hospital, but not before he took the girl’s earrings and she detransformed. It was Marinette. The love of his life, his whole world, was the same girl that was sitting behind him in class, who he only considered just a friend. He felt so bad and couldn’t bear the thought of losing her. The boy screamed for help. A few nurses heard him and went to help. The person in his arms was covered in blood and almost dying. The blonde kissed the girl's forehead as the nurses carried her into the operation room.

Almost forgetting about the Akuma, the boy started crying. But the news made him go back and face the monster. On his way to the park, all his thoughts were about the bleeding ravenette and how he’d get revenge on the ones who hurt her. Tears were still streaming down his face

He lost control and ripped the scarf, without the villain seeing him, then Cataclysmed the Akuma, almost killing the poor girl in the process. He detransformed in a corner and placed the earrings in his ears. .He called the Lucky Charm and said:

“Miraculous Misterbug!”

Everything went back to normal, and Marinette was in his arms. All the wounds were gone. She opened her eyes as his earrings were beeping. The boy hid again, but after his detransformation, Tikki was sick. Plagg noticed that and cried for her to wake up. 

“Marinette is the Guardian, she should know how to bring her back to normal.” The blonde encouraged his kwami, who was worriedly looking at his dear old friend.

“I just hope she’ll be ok. You can transform now, Adrien.”

“Plagg, claws out!”

The hero found Marinette and showed her the little creature that was lying down.

“I’m sorry, Marinette, I couldn’t save both of you in time.”

“What do you mean? Is Ladybug okay?”

“I know your secret, LB. We need to save your kwami before it’s too late.” The ravenette put the pieces of jewelry back on and let the black cat carry her to her room. She laid down and tried the same method Master Fu had used to bring Tikki back a few months ago. She had flashbacks of that moment and started crying. 

“I know you miss him. I do too, but now he doesn’t have that much pressure on his shoulders. Right?”

“I-I-I can’t...take it...anymore. I have ..s-so many responsibilities, you...have n-no idea about that. You are careless. You’ve never felt pain.” Even if Cat Noir felt sorry for the girl who was losing control she went too far.

“You think my life is perfect, right? You never asked how it really felt. What I’m going through. I lost my mom. My father doesn’t even love me. And you never gave me a chance. Do you have any IDEA how hard my life is?” In tears, he jumped and ran away from the girl who couldn’t take her eyes off him. 

She felt really bad and like a monster. The ravenette looked in the mirror. All she saw was an ugly and horrible person, not the nice and careless girl who she used to be. Being Ladybug destroyed her. Tears were running down her cheeks as she punched the mirror. Blood gushed from her hand and it flowed down onto her arm. Smelling the blood, Cat Noir immediately returned. He hugged her from the wind and kissed her cheek. She had so many responsibilities and it was okay to break down sometimes. They were both wrong in their own ways.

“Let’s get you cleaned from the blood. You look like you’ve been fighting demons.” 

“LEAVE ME ALONE! DON’T TOUCH m-me. I don’t...deserve you.”

“Hey, hey, stop and come with me.” In the sink, she cleaned and disinfected her arm. 

“Does it still hurt?” He asked her calmly while he ran his fingers over the wound. 

“It never did.” Their eyes met. Both of them felt a connection at that moment but immediately turned away. They couldn’t bear looking in each other’s eyes. It hurt too much.

“Let’s just go and save Tikki.” The ravenette said, still burning with anger. She was furious and not because of Cat Noir, but because she was never interested in the poor boy’s life. She never asked him how he felt and she thought she was a real monster.

“Okay” He whispered in a calming tone that softened her so much.

During the process, no one spoke as Marinette concentrated intently on healing Tikki (Fu trained her before he lost his memories and this was the first time she applied the technique) and because none of them knew how to start the conversation.

After the procedure, the kwami only needed rest, so Marinette put her into the bed with lots of macarons nearby. 

“Marinette, there are some things we need to talk about. Like for example what happened earlier? You looked scary, like a maniac and I became worried.”

“I have no idea, I was just dancing and then my hand broke the mirror while doing so.” She was lying and the blonde could tell that. Her eyes had lost their color and he knew something was off.

"And the panic attack afterward…."

“I was scared that someone might’ve seen my terrible dancing.” She answered so fast that he didn’t even manage to blink. 

“I can see something is wrong and you can trust me!” He moved closer to her and put his hand on her neck as his thumb was brushing her cheek. “Your eyes are not as full of life as they used to be. They’re dull. Please tell me and I might help. And you know I will only be able to help if you tell me.”

“I-I-I don’t...know what to say. I know you’re near me and it breaks me that I’m not. You are the best person in the world, aside from Adrien, Alya, Nino, and my parents” and she smiled. 

The blonde blushed at the compliment that was addressed to him. These moments felt like heaven to him.

But he already had a girlfriend, an amazing one. A girlfriend that loved him no matter what, who he cared about and he couldn’t cheat on her. Marinette didn’t truly love him so he got up and with a painful goodbye, he left the ravenette with her mouth open. 

“What has gotten to him, Tikki? He just left without saying anything.”

“We’ll discover tomorrow at patrol, now go to bed.” The red creature said. It was the first time she was that serious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. Thank you for reading.  
> Do you love miraculous?  
> Are you an artist, a writer or a reader?  
> Then join the Miraculous Fanworks discord server [here](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks)  
> Thank you [Khanofallorcs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khanofallorcs) for being my beta reader


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much [ Khanofallorcs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khanofallorcs) for being my beta reader. You have no idea how grateful I am that you help me.

As she heard the alarm, the ravenette opened her eyes. She got out of bed and looked in the broken mirror. Even if it was shattered, Marinette could still look at her reflection. She had big eyebags and looked like she hadn’t slept all night, which was actually true. 

  
  


_ “Tikki, TIKKI! She called her little kwami.  _

_ “Marinette, it’s three am”  _

_ “Yes, and I can’t sleep. You do realize that Cat Noir knows my identity, right?” The girl said with a worried voice.  _

_ “I do, but we’ll talk about it today with him. Now you really need sleep. You’ve had a rough day and you’ll need to go to school.“  _

_ “Ok, Tikki, you’re the best.”  _

  
  


“Tikki, it’s morning and I look terrible. Looks like I’ll have to use makeup.“ 

“Then put it on faster, you’ll be late if you don’t hurry up.” 

“Wow, Tikki, that was really harsh of you. Usually you’re nicer and calmer. What’s gotten into you?” 

“Nothing! Just do your things and go to school already.” 

“Ummmm, ok.” 

Marinette was really worried about her kwami. That behavior was very unexpected from her.  _ I just hope she’s ok, _ the girl thought as she made her usual routine but instead of wearing her usual clothes, the ravenette took a pink hoodie with crossed fingers that created a heart, a pair of black sweatpants and white shoes. She took her hair from the usual pigtails and put it into a ponytail.  _ Should I leave it like this, or make it the same how it’s usually? Oh, I have only 20 minutes before school starts so I’ll leave it like this. _

“Hi mom, I’ll take a snack and I’ll eat at school. Have a nice day. Bye!” 

“What’s wrong with Marinette, she usually wakes up and gets late and now she has 20 minutes before school starts? That’s a lot of time for our Marinette. I have no idea if I should be proud or worried.” 

“Honestly, Tom, me neither, she looked really tired and sad today. You know very well how much of a perfectionist she is if she gets sad. If something happens, she’ll just write it in her diary. Also, we both know that she has problems with communication. I just hope she’s ok and that she won’t do anything stupid. “ 

"Yeah, me too.” 

The man looked down. He was really worried about his daughter who was behaving really weirdly. His biggest fear could become a reality and that was really scary for him. 

_ At school :  _

The teenage girl arrived at school with a tired face that her friends would never want to see. So, she faked a smile which immediately disappeared as she saw the love of her life kissing Kagami. It felt like the whole world was crashing over her. It was like a nightmare she couldn’t wake up from. She was burning inside and couldn’t help it. 

The ravenette burst into tears. She wanted to get out of the school, but she knew she couldn’t. Marinette thought that if she didn’t get good grades, she was a failure. 

_ Flashback:  _

“Marinette likes you. Can you imagine?” A brown-haired boy spoke as he was taking his water bottle from his backpack. 

“Oh, that little girl that looks like she came from a dirty river?” Another boy said. 

“Why a dirty river?” 

“Because she cries so much, I think she created a river and because she’s extremely dirty. She’s so ugly and stupid. Like seriously, on a scale from one to ten, her intelligence equals 0. We all hate her. Nobody will ever catch romantic feelings for a crybaby like her.” 

Marinette heard these words and she was breaking inside. She couldn't believe that guy was using her so much. She was only 10 years old, so that experience was traumatizing. She felt like they were walking on her and like they were using her as a punch ball, not literally of course or like they were stepping over her. That’s when the ravenette decided to be the best she could ever be. 

Since then she started working hard on everything she was doing. She got perfect grades, followed drawing and sewing tutorials so she would become one of the best designers in the entire world. She was really into that dream and it was time it became bigger, so she would show that little bastard who she really was. 

Her future became better and clearer as days went by. Everyone loved her. But something they didn’t know was that the bakers’ daughter had depression so she felt bad every time someone didn’t like her or she did something wrong. But people were jealous of her and nobody could change that. One of those people was also Chloè Bourgeois, who hated the idea of the girl being better than her. So that’s how she started bullying the ravenette. 

_ Flashback ended.  _

It was the time she decided to become even better and a perfectionist. She decided to leave her love for Adrien simply by dating Luka, so she could get over the blonde. It was a perfect plan, even if she realized she’d use the poor blue-eyed boy. She knew how much she hated being used, but she had no other choice. And who knows, maybe she’d eventually fall in love with him even more than she fell for the blonde. All she could see was how to become the perfect version of herself, who was never hurt. 

The girl clenched her fists and went to class. She listened to every single detail the teacher said in class and didn’t say a word during the entire day, except during the breaks. For the first time, it felt right to be quiet about everything, except when she needed to speak. 

After school ended, she took her phone and dialed Luka’s number. He wasn't answering so she started texting him: 

Hey Luka, I wanted to talk to you about what happened yesterday. Don’t worry, I’m not angry. 

  
  


_ From now on, I won’t let anything crush my dreams and my destiny. No matter the obstacles, I’ll overcome them without showing any emotion and without failing. From now on, I am Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the girl who never does anything wrong and who always makes the right decisions.  _

And with these thoughts in her head and a grin on her face, she walked out of the school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading. 
> 
> We also have a [ Miraculous Fanworks Discord Server](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks). There we have challanges, promts to help us write, beta readers who help a lot and art chats. Feel free to join, we welcome you with open arms.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three years have passed. It's the first year of Marinette's terminale year.   
> Meanwhile, a new classmate joins the class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much [liminalshadow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/liminalshadow) for beta reading this chapter. It means so much to me.

Three years later. First day of terminale year. It was going to be a crazy period, it felt like it. 

The alarm from Marinette’s phone started ringing at 6 am, waking the ravenette up. Her hair was a total mess and she had forgotten to erase her makeup the night before. 

_ “Ladybug, watch out!” Cat Noir yelled from his heart, almost destroying his throat and the opponent’s ears at the same time, making the villain fall to his knees in an attempt to get the girl’s earrings. _

_ “Cat Noir, what in the world is wrong with you?” She asked her partner while throwing her yoyo, managing to catch the akumatized victim. “You could’ve just talked to me, I would’ve heard it”  _

_ “I’m sorry Ladybug, I wanted to make you aware and accidentally yelled too much. I didn’t mean to hurt your ears. Cataclysm!” After the hero said the magic words, he went to destroy the thing where the Akuma went. As he did that, a purple moth started fluttering its wings in the air.  _

_ “No more evil-doing for you, little Akuma. Time to de-evilize.” From the yoyo came a small, white butterfly that started flying innocently away from the team and the confused person near them.  _

_ “Miraculous Ladybug” As the heroine threw the cape in the air, millions of small Ladybugs went all over Paris to repair the destruction caused by the akumatized victim. All came to normal, except for Ladybug’s worried face. She knew that her loyal partner was hiding something from her, she just didn’t know what. But at that time, she couldn’t ask him for many reasons: one of them being the time, it was already 2 in the morning and it was a school day. Another one is that she and Cat Noir haven’t talked heart to heart in a while. Their souls didn’t let them, it was like something was standing between them, something like an unbreakable wall. _

__

_ “Goodbye Cat, see you soon.” _

_ “Goodbye Ladybug”  _

_ As she arrived home, the ravenette went to bed without hesitation. She was tired and it made sense, sleep was something she really had a lack of.  _

Marinette quickly erased her makeup and changed her clothes. It was her first day of school of her last year so she had to look good, the ravenette looked in her immense wardrobe and decided to wear a white shirt with kitten buttons, a pink skirt with the same design, and a pair of white shoes. She decided to put her midnight hair in a high ponytail, leaving her overgrown bangs in the front. 

When she arrived at school with her coffee in her hand, the ravenette saw the unpleasant image she saw every single day for over 3 years. An image that was still able to break her heart in pieces without hesitation. Adrien and Kagami.  _ Just like she does everything. No hesitation. it’s all like this since THAT day. Every single minute of my life I wish that day was only a dream, but lose all my hope when I meet everyone. I wish that day never happened. Even if it looks like I have a perfect life, I really don’t. Why can’t everybody understand that?” _

As Kagami and Adrien were making out like every single other day, the bakers’ daughter had to see that and act like everything was ok. Like she was all right, like nothing ever happened, Lle her life was perfect, like she never had any reason to cry. As if the pressure upon her small shoulders wasn’t big enough, as if she wasn’t a person with any negative emotions. She wasn’t allowed to break down because a villain would’ve always wanted to akumatize. The blue-eyed girl wasn’t a robot, yet nobody seemed to acknowledge that except for her boyfriend, who was near her no matter what, who never left her side in any situation, even if that meant self-sacrifice. Except for the fact that she couldn’t tell him the truth about herself, that she was actually a superhero who saved lives daily and risked her own. The ravenette knew if she did, he’d make her stop her work. He’d never accept the weight she had to carry herself and sometimes with her partner, who was almost absent in every mission. He would always arrive late or not even being there when she needed him the most. The guy who swore that he’ll be by her side no matter what broke his promise completely.

“Hey Marinette” a calm voice interrupted her thoughts sweetly. Except that instead of making the blue-eyed feel better, it made her angry and though she had hidden it for 3 years. That voice always made her freak out every single time she heard it, only that she never showed it. It was hurtful for real to keep all your thoughts to herself, but she had Tikki and her diary to share her thoughts with. 

Her diary. The blessed thing she’s always had since her childhood. The girl always had it to look back at herself, but three years ago she changed its importance. The ravenette started writing in it not to look at her old self and cringe or relive those beautiful moments. NO! Every time she had a bad day or did something wrong, she’d rant in her diary and when the diary was full, she’d burn it down. Shivvers were sent up her spine when she was looking at the flames transforming each page into dust, and she loved that feeling. It was perfect. 

“Hello Kagami, how are things going for you?” the bakers’ daughter answered with an angelic smile that was secretly hiding devil thoughts. 

Though she was always compared to one, Marnette knew she was far from an angel as her thoughts often said something else. Inside her, there was a fire that kept getting bigger and stronger every day. And she couldn’t be the one to blame in any way, she always bottled up her emotions without crying or looking down. There was one day she regretted though. A day that changed her life completely, but it was her biggest secret. Even if she tried to forget all the events, nightmares about it would always come. 

“Things are really good for me, Adrien is the best boyfriend ever. I still can’t get over the fact that you guys are still friends, you know, because of-” the short-haired girl said with pleasure. It’s not like she liked seeing her friend suffer, but rubbing in her face was one of the fencer’s hobbies. 

“Anyways, we’re going to be late to class if we don’t hurry up. So I recommend chatting on the way” 

“Sure, I have some things to ask you about our homework,” Kagami said while nodding in agreement.

As they arrived at their seats, a blonde boy approached them.

“Hey Marinette, how are you? I wanted you to show me some of your designs. Remember that father agreed to promote your dresses today.”

“Sure, here they are Adrien”

The model was looking through her sketchbook as if it was a treasure. Her designs meant so much for him because she was his partner after all.

_ It’s not like I still have feelings for her, I’m now with Kagami. _

His thoughts suddenly disappeared as the bell was ringing to announce the start of the lessons. All the students went to their seats, some groaning in frustration, others being quiet.

“Dear students, today, a new classmate will join you, Felix Agreste, Adrien’s cousin.”

Everyone’s faces dropped in shock, not being able to say a word.

_ This is going to be a crazy year _ , the two heroes told themselves while listening to the boy’s self-presentation. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this fanfiction and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. 
> 
> If you want to read more fanfictions like this or promote your work you can join the Miraculous Fanworks discord server [here](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks). There's beta service, amazing writers you can collab with, and also amazing artists. You are always free to join. 
> 
> ~Tori(known as Baby Bunny in the server)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much [CuteBugaboo](CuteBugaboo) for beta reading this chapter. I appreciate your effort.
> 
> Happy reading everyone

After the classes for the day ended, Marinette and Adrien went to the young model’s mansion to show her amazing designs to his strict and unpleasant father. The girl could feel her heart pounding beating out of her chest like she was running 10 miles per hour, even though she was only sitting in the car. Nervousness was overflowing creating a terrible sensation of dizziness. The blonde noticed and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, which only made things worse for the poor girl who was trying her best not to throw up.

“Marinette, are you okay? Do you need a pill?” he asked in a concerned manner. This was the Adrien she fell for in the first place. Not the famous, handsome model, but for the nice and caring boy who would never leave his friends’ side no matter what the consequences may be.

“Don’t worry, Adrien, I’m fine, just a little nervous,” the girl would always answer something similar, she never told anyone when she felt upset, which made his feelings and admiration for her grow stronger each day, as the selfless girl helped everyone else.

“Don’t worry, it’s going to be alright, I promise. And if my father doesn’t like your designs then he’s too blind to see how awesome they are,” he pulled her into a tight hug. 

Both the teenagers melted in each others’ arms. The warmth they felt was unusual and they could feel sparks going through them. After a long minute that felt like an eternity, both the heroes reluctantly pulled away. Adrien didn’t want to let his lady go, he was too scared that if he wasn’t holding her, she might’ve gone somewhere else, far from him, where he couldn’t reach her.

“Let’s go inside Marinette, I think my father is waiting for us”, even though he let go of her, the blonde wasn’t able to stop himself holding the girl’s hands. 

“So you are Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the girl Adrien told me about a lot of times, his very good friend, you can give me your sketchbook and leave the house.” The ravenette knew that the man was cold, but she wasn’t expecting that little amount of hospitality. She was a close friend of his son, after all.

“Sure sir, here it is”, as she finished the sentence, the girl gave Gabriel the most precious thing in her life, her sketchbook. she hesitated before handing it to the man who showed no affection. 

“Goodbye, Mr. Agreste, bye Adrien” She ran as quickly as possible from that house. The teenager hated it there, the atmosphere was awful and unwelcoming. Even if it was big, the house felt like a prison, and she hated being trapped. The bluebell-eyed girl kept asking herself how the boy was able to live there. Then the realization hit her. 

_ He has to live like this every single day and nobody is aware of that.  _

Her thoughts were darkening at that moment, making her eyes water. The ravenette hated crying, she said it made her weak, which is the reason why she hadn’t let her emotions out for so long. It was a burden on her chest that managed to get the best of her.

She'd had these types of moments a lot, it was unbearable. It was like all of her could barely resist the pressure she had on her shoulders. She was just a teenager and master Fu put so much responsibility on the poor girl, forgetting the fact that she wasn’t even an adult yet. 

Coping wasn’t easy, so the girl let the emotions get the best of her and she burst out crying. Fortunately, the boy saw her and run to the girl as fast as possible. 

“Marinette, what happened?” He was holding her tight, not letting her go for aa second. He already did it once and look at how things have turned out. He felt like he wasn’t present in her life a lot, mostly because of his selfish girlfriend who never let them hang out alone. She didn’t want to lose the blonde, but she hadn’t realized that this was making things worse for her.

“It’s just” She took a deep breath before continuing. “There’s so much pressure on my shoulders and sometimes I’m just stuck without knowing what decisions to make. Sometimes I just want to cry, but I swore to myself that I’d never do that” After finishing her small speech, the girl burst out crying. Her face was red and tears were streaming on her face without hesitation. He could feel the girl’s heart breaking through her sobs. Suddenly, his vision started becoming blurry and his eyes watering. He realized that he was crying as well next to the girl that helped him so much without acknowledging that herself. His hold became tighter every second, but it was still gentle. 

He dried out his eyes, took the ravenette’s face, and cupped cheeks while brushing her tears with his thumb. 

“Don’t worry Marinette, I’m here for you, I’ll always be and nothing will stop that. I promise.” Her face showed an unpleasant frown.

“Someone else I know promised the same thing and now I’m alone sitting here in your arms. Not even my boyfriend can get me to talk to him because I need to protect him.”

He knew what she was talking about because he hadn’t told Kagami about the fact that he was a superhero either. He wasn’t able to, even if they’ve been dating for three years, he couldn’t trust her enough. Also, he couldn’t tell her because Hawkmoth would capture her and try to use her as bait to get his miraculous.

_ I did promise her that I’ll never leave her side, but I did and it hurts her. I should’ve been more careful, she’s the person I care about the most. _

He hugged her tightly again, this time smelling her weak vanilla scent. It was pleasant, but with this atmosphere, it felt like hell.

“I’m sorry” He whispered in her ear. “I’m sorry I was such a terrible friend and didn’t help you.” As he said those words, as a tear rolled down his cheek. “I... I ….i ...Should’ve been there f-for you.”

“It’s okay, Adrien, it’s okay” She tried calming him down with her sweet aura. 

“ _ It’s okay _ ” was something she didn’t believe herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this fanfiction and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. 
> 
> If you want to read more fanfictions like this or promote your work you can join the Miraculous Fanworks discord server [here](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks). There's beta service, amazing writers you can collab with, and also amazing artists. You are always free to join. 
> 
> ~Tori(known as Baby Bunny in the server)


End file.
